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Today's News

The Jeffco library board is considering closing the system’s three smallest library branches next year, two of which serve the poorest areas of the county.
Library staff on Thursday listed closure of the Conifer, Edgewater and Wheat Ridge libraries as cost-saving options; shutting down all three could save the system up to $695,000 annually.
The closures could be necessary to meet a sharply reduced budget in 2012, library staff and board members said.

Roxborough State Park purchased 58 acres of land last month, an acquisition that apparently will ease fears that an area surrounded by park land would eventually be developed.

The land, which is in the south-central region of the park and sits more than a mile from the visitor center, is unlikely to see many changes. Though buildings will not be constructed on the land, a new trail that would connect the land to the nearby Carpenter Peak Trail may be built in the future.

The Foothills Park & Recreation District recently placed more 30 acres of land up for sale, hoping to net $4.5 million for capital-improvement projects and other expenses.

The five South Jeffco parcels, which the district calls “surplus land,” have not been slated for park development for various reasons. Most of the parcels are near existing parks, and several sit next to busy intersections, which would make accessibility difficult if parks were to be developed, Foothills executive director Ron Hopp said.

The Jeffco district attorney’s office arrested an Arizona teacher on July 11 on suspicion of Internet child exploitation.

Eighth-grade science teacher Justin Ray Sargent, 33, is accused of contacting a DA’s employee who was posing as a 15-year-old girl in an online chat room. According to an arrest affidavit, Sargent sent a number of sexually explicit messages and repeatedly asked the supposed teen for nude photos.

The man suspected of brandishing a gun July 7 outside The Edge Ice Arena was charged last week with five felony counts, including a charge of first-degree kidnapping, the district attorney’s office said.

Charles Belter appeared in court July 14. He faces additional charges of stalking, felony menacing, automobile trespassing, violation of a protective order and child abuse not resulting in injury, the DA’s office said. Belter’s next court hearing is slated for July 25, when a preliminary hearing will be scheduled.

Results of an additional evaluation of Deer Creek Middle School shooting suspect Bruco Eastwood consistently indicate he suffered from mental illness, a conclusion prosecutors contend was not the case when he allegedly shot two students in February 2010.

A Golden woman filed a lawsuit July 16 against a Jeffco deputy and a Colorado School of Mines campus police officer, alleging her Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures were violated when the pair entered her home to serve a harassment summons.

Brian Baumgarten and Elsa Nickerson were married on June 10.
Brian is a 2007 graduate of Columbine High School, and Elsa is from Atlanta, Ga. They were married in the Salt Lake City LDS Temple, and a reception was held in their honor that evening in Pleasant Grove, Utah.
The couple will be living in Provo, Utah, where Brian is attending Brigham Young University. Elsa recently graduated from BYU.